School dropout

What is school dropout?

‘School dropout’ refers to the phenomenon where a young person interrupts their education before completing the cycle of studies required by the national education system. In other words, it is the premature leaving of school or a training institution without obtaining a nationally recognized diploma or qualification. School dropout can occur at any stage of the educational pathway. From the perspective of the education system and society as a whole, it is a genuine educational failure. ‘School dropout’ is different from ‘educational disengagement’, although the two terms are often used interchangeably to refer to the premature leaving of school: in general, school dropout refers to the permanent discontinuation of studies by a young person, while educational disengagement refers to the situation in which a young person does not attend school or training regularly.

Some data on Europe

In the 2020 agenda, the European Union set a target that by that year, young Europeans aged 18 to 24 without a high school diploma (or vocational qualification) would be less than 10% of the total. At the continental level, this target was reached: in 2020 the rate stood at 9.9%. The continental goal, looking toward 2030, has been further reduced by one point (9%). Unfortunately, Italy is one of the countries where the phenomenon has the most impact: in 2021 our country ranked third in Europe for dropout rates, with 12.7% of residents aged 18 to 24 having left school with at most a middle school diploma and not participating in education or training programs.

Causes and consequences

School dropout is a phenomenon that affects a large portion of the population worldwide. It is a very complex problem involving multiple factors. There are various reasons why a young person may decide to leave school:

• family problems
• physical or mental healthWhat is meant by mental health? According to the World Healt... More issues
• lack of support from the school
• economic difficulties

In many cases, the phenomenon is caused by a combination of factors.

School dropout can have serious long-term consequences on young people’s lives: boys and girls who leave school often come from difficult social backgrounds and economically disadvantaged families. For a young person, leaving studies early means more difficulties in finding stable employment, today even more than in the past. This also leads to a higher likelihood of social exclusion.

How to intervene

To address the problem of school dropout, it is necessary to adopt a multidisciplinary approach. Teachers, parents, and social workers must work together to create an environment that is welcoming and supportive for young people. Scientific literature suggests that the most effective paths are:

• prevention. Includes initiatives related to improving teaching and care from early childhood, and later school and career guidance. In many cases, in the absence of adequate support programs, young people in difficulty are not identified, and their leaving school catches everyone unprepared: it is therefore important that schools work to identify them as early as possible.
• intervention. Most intervention policies are based on early identification of learningIl termine apprendimento - con i sinonimi imparare, assimila... More difficulties and act by providing support through individual learning plans and/or financial incentives for economically disadvantaged families.
• compensation. Compensation measures aim to bring back into education and training those who left prematurely, with the goal of helping them acquire fundamental skills and complete basic education.